Revenge of the Reich
by KamikazePyro
Summary: Earth-X isn't finished with Team Arrow yet. Someone wants revenge.
1. Chapter 1

_One week ago…_

All across the city, everyone could see it. Her Kryptonian body exploded in a massive ever-expanding ring of flames and smoke. The Legends, Team Arrow, Team Flash, and even the Earth-X Nazis all had their attention drawn to the sky, mesmerized by this sudden turn of events.

Dark Arrow swiftly turned from his foe, Oliver of Earth-1, his Reich mask dissolving quickly. He saw the flames in the sky and knew their window of opportunity had passed.

Overgirl had at last reached her boiling point.

"No!" he screeched, his voice filled with sheer agony. He dropped to one knee, then two. His wife, his muse, the true reason he invaded Earth-1 in the first place, was gone. His mind flew into a thousand scenarios, trying desperately to think of one that would fix this. What if he had killed the Earth-1 heroes when he had them restrained in the warehouse? Why did he need leverage in the first place? Certainly killing everybody would accomplish the same goal of demoralizing Supergirl to the point where she would willingly give in to their demand. His eyes scoured the battlefield, finding his forces dwindling against the combined teams of superheroes. Through his own self-admonishment, he felt only one thing: rage.

"I'm gonna kill you!" he snarled through gritted teeth, spinning and reaching for an arrow out of his quiver.

Then it struck him. He'd already been tagged?! He looked down at the green-accented arrow penetrating the center of his chest. Staggered, he sheepishly crumpled onto the roof of the van, the expression of shock evident on his face. The last thing he saw was the Green Arrow glaring mercilessly at him.

 _Present day…_

"I think I'm gonna call it a night, guys," Diggle said, tossing his jacket on. "I've got a busy day tomorrow. I'm gonna take John Junior to the zoo and then I've called in a babysitter for the night."

"Ooh, you and Lyla finally getting a night out?" Felicity commented coyly.

Diggle scoffed. "We'll see. With the psychos in this city, you can never count on quality time with your loved ones."

"Speaking of which," Oliver said. "Do you mind if I head out with you? I want to spend some time with William before it's too late tonight. I haven't exactly been father of the year these past couple weeks."

"Well, who could've counted on ninjas and Nazi doppelgangers showing up, one of which your alternate self was married to…?" Felicity quipped in a demeaning tone, spinning in her chair all the while.

Oliver sighed and gave her a stern glare before turning to Diggle.

"Yeah, man, come on," Diggle responded.

Oliver approached Felicity, stopping her from spinning and leaning in close. He attempted to kiss her, but she tilted her head away, giving him only her cheek.

He backed off, nodding solemnly before joining Diggle at the elevator.

* * *

As the elevator rose, Diggle and Oliver stood silently for a moment.

"Time is all she needs," Diggle said. "You've been through worse."

Oliver sighed heavily. "I know. It's just… I don't know why it's still bothering her. It wasn't me and it wasn't Kara. It was—"

Diggle interrupted, "—your Earth-X selves. I know, man. But to a woman like Felicity, it still doesn't look good. Put yourself in her shoes. What if Felicity from Earth-6 showed up and she was happily married to Ray Palmer? How would you feel?"

"I'd be happy for her."

Diggle snickered. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, brother."

"What are you saying, Dig?"

Diggle turned to Oliver. "Look, man, I wasn't there to see all of this unfold for myself, but I got the rundown from Dinah and Felicity. Earth-X Oliver and Earth-X Kara were married, they were evil, but they certainly loved each other. I also heard about that awkward goodbye you had with our Kara."

"Oh, come on. It wasn't awkward, it was—it was—casual."

"Mhmm. It was so casual you decided to pay a visit to Earth-38 and spend an entire day with Kara, huh?"

Oliver's eyes widened a bit. "That was to apologize for the Kryptonite arrow. She had a right to know my reasoning in an environment where we weren't being shot at. I apologized, she forgave me—" He noticed the sly grin on Diggle's face. "— _she forgave me_ , her sister Alex invited me to stay for dinner, and being the polite man I am, I agreed. What was I supposed to do? Decline and make things more awkward?" He paused. "We watched a bunch of movies anyway. You'd be surprised how many are the same as our Earth."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Diggle stepped out. "Well, as long as you had a good time."

"I did," Oliver replied quickly.

"Alright. Fair enough."

The two went off towards the truck.

* * *

Felicity spun in her chair, blowing out air as she pondered how long she was going to sit in the lair brooding, which was normally Oliver's job, but he was mostly oblivious to her feelings at the moment. Maybe another hour, maybe the rest of the night. It's not like she had any responsibilities outside of being Overwatch, not since Curtis decided to pursue his own company after she used the start-up donations to bail Oliver out of jail a couple weeks ago. It's not like she did that for her own selfish desires; Oliver _needed_ to be out in the free world for William and the city's sakes.

The elevator lowering mechanism whirred to life. She could hear the box descending, but spun in the other direction.

"Probably Oliver coming to apologize as he always does," she told herself. "And he'll make those puppy dog eyes, get on one knee, and beg me to forgive him for spending a whole day with the alternate Earth version of his doppelganger's wife… Because that's not fishy at all."

The elevator finished its descent with a hard clank, and the doors opened.

Still leaning back in her chair facing the opposite direction, Felicity murmured, "I'm not in the mood right now, Oliver."

A dark, almost synthesized voice answered back. "I don't care."

Knives ran up and down Felicity's spine. Her heart nearly burst from her chest. She breathed in sharply. She knew that voice, but she didn't believe it. She stood up from her chair, facing the direction of the response.

She closed her eyes, pretending he was a monster that could just be wished away. Unfortunately, when she opened them, he was still standing there in all of his Earth-X Nazi glory:

 _Dark Arrow_ , Führer of the Reich on Earth-X, the man who would have ruthlessly killed her at STAR Labs had Green Arrow not intervened at the right time.

"No, no, no, no, no, no…" Felicity whispered to herself, frantically backing away into the computers. She placed her hand over a specific area of the keyboard, prepared to send a distress signal to the other members of the team.

Without hesitation and in the blink of an eye, Dark Arrow fired one of his red-accented arrows straight through Felicity's hand, pinning her to the desktop. She screamed in anguish as the situation registered in her mind, blood spurting from her wound, dripping all over the counter and the keyboard.

Dark Arrow marched determinedly towards her. Her stopped in front of her, kneeling down slowly. He merely stared at her, the red bug-like eyes on his mask menacing and distressing her. He was enjoying this, her crying and squirming before him.

"Whatever you want," she said between deep breaths, "you won't get it. Oliver will stop you like he did before."

Dark Arrow, while keeping his attention on her, reached up and wrenched the arrow around in her hand. She shrieked, pounding on the desk like a suffering animal.

Finally, Dark Arrow responded. "Felicity Smoak, what I want is simple. Revenge." He leaned in closer to her. "He took my wife from me. I will take his."

"Oliver didn't kill your Kara!" Felicity shouted weakly. "That was Supergirl, Kara from Earth-38!" Despite her jealousy, she didn't feel great about throwing Kara under the bus. It was simply survival at this point.

"It makes no difference to me. He was the leader of your resistance, therefore, he was responsible."

He stood up, ripping the arrow out of her hand violently. He watched attentively as she immediately tended to her injury, ripping a piece of her dress off and wrapping it up. He turned his back on her, knowing full well she would make a run for it, and she did. She shot up from her position and ran for the armory, but she didn't make it more than five feet before another arrow pierced her quad, bringing her collapsing to the floor.

She held back her urge to break down in tears, unwilling to give him the satisfaction. She gritted her teeth, trying desperately to crawl as far as she could, knowing it was futile.

He stepped on her wounded leg, putting most of his weight on the area around the puncture.

After a long shriek, she laid back on the floor. "Why don't you just get it over with, you Nazi bastard?" she asked with venom in her words.

"I will, but I'm enjoying this." He pressed a button on the side of his mask, revealing his familiar face to her. "And I'll sleep better at night knowing the last thing you saw before you were violently eviscerated was a mirror image of your husband's face."

"You're not him!"

"No, I am not. I am better than him. I am a true hero. Just ask the billions on my Earth that worship me."

"You're a monster, and there's a difference between respecting a leader and fearing him."

Dark Arrow peered down at her leg puncture. It was leaking blood profusely. "Hmm. You have about ten minutes to live—maybe less depending on how much you fight back."

"F-f-fight back?" She was afraid to ask.

Dark Arrow bent down, giving her a sinister glare. She recognized that glare from back in the day when her Oliver had no qualms with torturing and killing people.

"I suppose we should get started," he said, genuinely disturbing.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Just a quick one-shot. If you enjoyed that to some extent, please leave a review and let me know. Even if you hated it, I'd like to know why.**


	2. Chapter 2

Diggle took a seat next to a despondent Oliver. He tried to think of something to say—anything—but none of it sounded good enough in his head. He exhaled deeply, putting a hand to Oliver's back comfortingly. He'd consoled his fair share of widowed comrades in Afghanistan, and he found that sometimes, saying nothing at all was the best choice. Simply being there was enough.

Oliver found himself a shell of a man at this point. Lian Yu, the hellish island that he once considered a prison, became a personal retreat in the wake of Tommy Merlyn's death. Losing Laurel Lance brought out a more sinister side to him that he had suppressed after the Undertaking. This time hurt just as much as those, and even though he'd experienced this type of pain before, he still felt empty.

Lying before them on the floor was a body covered in a brown blanket. The blanket was stained in several places with dark crimson blotches that had not yet dried.

Curtis slowly stepped over to them, a mop in hand. He was teary-eyed, his lip quivering. He struggled to get out his next words. "I-it-it…it's done…"

Diggle looked up at him. "Thank you, Curtis. I'll take it from here. Go home and get some rest."

Curtis nodded, avoiding eye contact with the lifeless object on the floor next to him as he walked away.

Dinah arrived from the elevator. "I came as soon as I heard. Is…?"

Curtis frowned.

Dinah advanced, stopping short once she saw it. Her lower jaw fell. She turned away, trying to catch her breath, rubbing her eyes.

"Dinah," Diggle said softly as he walked towards her.

She collected herself, forcing herself to face the horror head-on. "When did it happen?" she asked.

"Sometime last night."

Dinah shifted her sights to the computer next to her. She saw the blood and the hole where the projectile had been. She moved over to the console beside it, typing vigorously.

"What are you doing?"

"Security footage. What time did you guys leave?"

"Around 8."

She skipped ahead to 8 o'clock, then kept it fast-forwarding at a reasonably slow pace until they both saw exactly what they didn't want to see. She paused the footage.

"That's not possible." She took a step back.

"I stopped saying that when I saw magic swimming pools and aliens."

Oliver sauntered over to them. When he laid eyes on that image of his Earth-X counterpart, everything hit him at full blast and he lost it. He picked up a chair, shouted, and smashed it against the row of monitors behind him. He punched any monitors remaining standing, tossing everything on the floor as his rage built up.

Dinah moved to stop him, but Diggle held her back, shaking his head.

"God. What are we going to do with…?" she asked.

"Unless we want to put all of _this_ out in the open, we have no choice but to make it look like a random attack somewhere."

Dinah sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "I'll contact Donna."

"Good idea."

"Has anyone contacted Barry and the others yet?"

"Not yet."

"I'll do that too. I just…need to take a long walk."

Diggle nodded. "Okay, but be careful. Who knows what else this guy is planning."

As Dinah exited, Oliver continued his violent outburst, trashing anything in his way as he moved throughout the lair. Weapon racks, tables, chairs, even the salmon ladder, all fell victim to his wrath. After several minutes of angry bellowing and equipment smashing, he stood in front of the Green Arrow display case, a thought coming across the frazzled landscape of his mind.

* * *

Cursing his name, Curtis pushed open the door to his apartment, wiping away the tears that were still somehow finding themselves on his cheeks. He flipped the lights on, surprised to see Paul sitting on the couch in his living room.

"Paul?" Curtis asked. He wasn't sure how to approach the situation. He wondered if Diggle called him. "Paul, I am having a hell of a night. You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

Paul remained silent.

"Paul, I'm kind of in the middle of a crisis right now. Please, say something. I need to hear your voice."

Curtis circled around to get a better view of his former husband. He was instantly horrified to see three arrows jutting out of Paul's chest, his stomach ripped open with his intestines hanging out between his legs. Curtis was about to vomit, so he turned away, right into Dark Arrow!

Dark Arrow rammed a handful of flechettes into Curtis's gut, repeatedly ripping them out and forcing them back in, Curtis squealing with each individual assault. He pushed Curtis against the wall, pulling out two arrows. He pinned Curtis upright by the shoulders. He pulled out the flechettes, backing off and watching as Curtis's internals began to flop outwards, all the while Curtis sobbed and looked on in sorrow at Paul.

* * *

"Yes, this is Lieutenant Dinah Drake of the Star City Police Department," said Dinah as she paced outside of an abandoned old coffee shop. "I'm calling for a Donna Smoak regarding her daughter. It's an emergency." She sighed. "Yeah, I'll wait."

She put her phone on speaker and waited. Considering her line of work and the fact that the Star City Police Department wasn't exactly the safest job on the planet, she had memorized a generic speech for every next of kin, but for this one, she knew it wouldn't be enough. She needed to come up with something better for Donna. She just didn't know what.

And something told her she might not get the chance to.

"Apparently you need to be sent to Hell twice to get the message, huh?"

She spun swiftly, jutting her head forward, delivering an especially potent canary cry—at least that was her intention. Before she even opened her mouth, a dampening collar clutched at her neck, stopping her in her tracks. Steel wire wrapped around her body like an anaconda, dropping her to the sidewalk. She squirmed futilely, seeing Dark Arrow drawing near, stepping on her phone and cracking it to pieces.

* * *

 **A/N: Shit, Dark Arrow doing work, right? I did intend for this to be a one-shot, but I guess I got the itch to do more. I'm not big into drama so I apologize if the aftermath of the first part seemed rushed (it kind of was so I could move on). Hopefully you still enjoy this part. I'll have the next one up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

Green Arrow returned to the bunker, setting his bow down and removing his hood. He looked around, noting it was empty. Diggle and the body were gone. He went to one of the computers, typing in some commands. The screen brought up a program and he typed in "QUEEN, OLIVER." The system began sifting through tens of thousands of faces pulled from every end of the city.

Oliver waited, thumping his fingers impatiently. He had been out since the early morning tracking down his Earth-X counterpart, rampaging through the city's crime from the low-life thugs and drug peddlers to the one-percenters he used to go after exclusively. Nobody had any leads for him. Nobody had spotted the mayor of Star City anywhere he wouldn't normally be. He knew Earth-X Oliver was going to be difficult to find, but he had hoped it would be quicker than this. Despite it all, he still wanted to spend time with William, who was blissfully unaware of the situation at hand.

His phone buzzed. He checked the caller ID: John Diggle.

"What?" he answered sharply.

Diggle spoke from the other end, "Oliver..." There was a short pause. "Curtis is dead. It's…bad, man. Real bad. There's no doubt about who did this."

Oliver clenched his jaw. "Anything else?"

"Dinah is missing. I found her phone smashed to pieces just a few blocks from the bunker."

Oliver divided his attention between the conversation and the facial recognition program. It was still spinning.

"Oliver? You still there?"

"Take your family and get out of the city. Get to an ARGUS safe house if you need to. Bring Thea and William with you."

"I won't leave you by yourself."

Oliver shook his head, knowing Diggle couldn't see it. "This guy is picking the team off one by one to hurt me. He can't do that if he can't get to you. I will handle him, but I cannot do that if I'm looking over my shoulder constantly worried about everybody else. Not against him."

"How long have we been doing this together? You know that's not how I operate, man. I will get everybody else to a safe place, but I'm coming back to help you."

The screen beeped.

"It won't take me that long," Oliver said, ending the call and turning his phone off.

The program had found a match to his likeness.

* * *

Dinah found herself looking at things from another perspective. Her head was pounding from the blood rushing to it. She was in chains now, hanging upside down, completely unsure of where she was. There was nothing else in the room. No windows, no tables or chairs, no way to escape besides the door that was opening as she thought of her route.

"I see you're finally awake," said Dark Arrow, standing by the door, his hands clasped behind his back.

"What do you want from me?" Dinah asked.

"You're going to help me."

Dinah scoffed. "Why would I do that? Let me guess, you're going to torture me if I don't?"

"You are correct," he said, drawing an arrow from his quiver and twirling it around innocently. "I will torture you in ways you have never imagined possible. And then I will kill you."

"It beats helping a racist scumbag like you."

"You can choose not to help me." He ran the tip of the arrow across one of her cheeks. "But in doing so, you wouldn't be killing just yourself. You would also be killing a good friend of yours, a man you used to be quite close to."

Dinah's eyes widened. He couldn't be talking about Vince, could he? How would he even know about him? She subtly shook her head.

"You're bluffing," she said, trying to put on her poker face.

Dark Arrow sliced a thin line on her arm, causing her to grunt but not yell out. He sliced again, simply observing her behavior.

"We'll see about that," he said, harshly jamming the arrow into her upper arm and casually leaving the room.

When he was gone, Dinah let out a painful shout she'd been holding in, wishing she could remove the arrow, but the chains restricted her. She fought with all of her might, but it was no use. The chains weren't budging.

* * *

Whining of a motorbike engine echoed through the empty streets of Star City as the Green Arrow sped to his destination. It only took him a few minutes before he arrived at an old warehouse. It brought back painful memories of his first encounter with the Dark Archer, Malcolm Merlyn. He received his first true loss of his crusade in this building, and wasn't all that eager to come back, but the technology didn't lie. Oliver-X was here somewhere.

He cautiously traversed inside the building, his bow at the ready, expecting to walk right into a trap. It was a given that anything he would think of, Oliver-X would also think of it. All he had to rely on was his own instinct and willpower.

He turned a corner, drawing his arrow back slightly, tense, agitated. He halted, his senses tingling. Instinctively, he ducked down, firing an arrow behind him as he moved to cover. He looked up to find an arrow sticking out of the wall where he just was. He made a quick glance down the hallway only to barely dodge another arrow whizzing past his face. From the split second he was able to get a view, he confirmed it was his evil counterpart. Rage burning through his veins, he jumped out of cover, firing three arrows simultaneously—and receiving a small cut on the side of his right knee from an opposing arrow as he stood up, rushing down the hallway, firing arrow after arrow.

On the opposite end, Dark Arrow retaliated with his own barrage: dodge, move, fire an arrow, repeat. He and Green Arrow closed in on each other, firing arrows and dodging every opposing arrow by mere centimeters. Each arrow shot brought them closer in proximity. By the time they reached each other, they were all out of arrows, instead indulging in the Eskrima that they were so fond of.

"How did you come back?" Green Arrow demanded to know, ducking a high slash of Dark Arrow's bow and attempting one of his own.

Dark Arrow sidestepped the slash and slammed his bow down, Green Arrow blocking from below. "I've come back from worse before," he simply replied.

Green Arrow tossed his bow forward for a quick second of time to shift into a combination of his Wing Chun and Silat fighting styles. It took no time for Dark Arrow to do the same, reinforcing how equally knowledgeable they were in physical combat. Both fighters switched their styles like a revolving table, from taekwondo to judo to muay Thai, never sticking to one style for too long, always trying to get a leg up on the competition.

Realizing he wasn't getting anywhere this way, Green Arrow charged into Dark Arrow, both of them crashing to the floor. He proceeded to lay down a series of clubbing blows, all of which were blocked. Dark Arrow grabbed Green Arrow's wrists, intertwined them, and pulled him to the floor; he twisted, folded, and landed a martelo kick to Green Arrow's right leg before hopping to his feet.

"You killed my wife!" Green Arrow shouted. He recovered, rolling backwards onto his feet. For a brief moment, he felt a twinge in his right knee, but it wasn't enough to cause him worry.

Green Arrow moved forward, dipping further into his fighting knowledge now that his opponent had brought out capoeira. Dark Arrow attempted a scorpion kick, but Green Arrow was ready, and countered with a quick grapple to throw Dark Arrow to the floor. The fascist man wasted no time smacking the exposed knee, forcing Green Arrow to hop off momentarily.

Dark Arrow found an opening quite quickly, taking the fight to the ground once again, delivering a punishing combination of haymakers and jabs that Green Arrow was barely able to defend against. He rolled, pulling his opponent's body with him, and used his legs to catapult the body into the wall. Green Arrow's words rang incredibly hypocritical to him, fueling him with fury even more. "An eye for an eye!" he responded, grabbing his enemy by the arms and chucking him into the wall even harder.

Green Arrow pushed back, shoving Dark Arrow into the wall behind him. The two continued with their brute force tactics until they reached the end of the hallway, spilling through a doorway and into an open room where their brawl continued. Neck and neck, punch for punch, kick for kick, they were deadlocked. Neither was giving an inch.

"Your wife was weak, just like you!" Dark Arrow declared. "I enjoyed killing her." He hopped over a sweeping kick.

Green Arrow's body trembled. His punches flew with an added fury he hadn't felt since Damien Darhk tried to assassinate Felicity nearly two years prior. He must have been swinging faster than he thought, because before he knew it, he had Dark Arrow pinned on the floor, and he was still punching. He broke through the evil archer's defenses, and was whaling on the man's mask.

He felt a sudden tear in his side. He stopped his assault to investigate, finding a flechette jammed into his kidney. Another one found its way in between two of his ribs, nearly hitting a lung. Dark Arrow flung Green Arrow off of him, quickly getting to his feet and resuming his onslaught.

"You know what I enjoyed the most about killing Felicity?" Dark Arrow questioned, nailing his foot right into Green Arrow's side, pushing the flechette all the way in. "Watching her die. I made sure she died slowly, all things considered." He planted another kick to Green Arrow's injured knee, putting him down.

Green Arrow panted, trying desperately to catch his breath, but with the flechette in his ribcage, it was proving difficult to say the least. He spit up a glob of blood, trying to push himself away from his foe, but Dark Arrow remained persistent, sending several hard kicks his way, all landing in his gut or his face. He refused to believe he was going to lose to a Nazi from another Earth—but what else could he do? He had no teammates to back him up, he was all out of arrows, and he was sure he had internal bleeding with cracked ribs.

Dark Arrow pulled out another flechette. His mask dissolved. "You're weak," he whispered, bending over Green Arrow. "It's disgusting looking at a version of myself like this."

He waited for Green Arrow to respond. Green Arrow just stared up at him listlessly.

"No final words? I'm disappointed. Even your filthy wife had something to say before I killed her. Oh, well." Dark Arrow reared his arm back, savoring the moment.

"Oliver!" a female voice hollered.

Something clicked inside the masked superhero's head.

As Dark Arrow flung his arm forward, Green Arrow shoved a flashbang into his face. Dark Arrow jumped back like a cobra had spit venom into his eyes. By the time he had regained his vision enough to make out solid objects, his enemy was gone.

* * *

 **A/N: This is an updated version of this chapter. I edited the fight somewhat.**


	4. Chapter 4

Green Arrow stumbled through the front entrance, colliding with the pavement. He could see his motorbike up ahead. He got to one knee, forcing himself closer, foot by foot, until he reached it, fumbling to put the key in. As he turned the key, a black van sped up in front of him, stopping before hitting him.

John Diggle hopped out of the driver's seat, rushing over to Green Arrow's aid. "I'm gonna get you outta here, Oliver," he said, pulling Green Arrow up and helping him to the passenger side, the archer grunting painfully with each step. "Just stay with me, man."

With Green Arrow safely secured, Diggle ran back to his side and threw the van in drive. He whipped it around, speeding away as quickly as the vehicle would allow him to.

Moments later, Dark Arrow emerged from the front entrance, a look of frustration on his face as he observed his target escaping.

* * *

Diggle carried Green Arrow over to one of the beds in the infirmary. He removed his hood and eye mask, taking a good look at his friend's wounds. He couldn't miss the flechettes poking out of his ribcage and just above his waist. The blood was still dripping out at a steady rate.

He noticed Oliver closing his eyes. "Hey, hey, hey!" he shouted, giving his friend some light slaps to the face. "Oliver! Don't you dare pass out on me!"

Oliver regained consciousness, just barely, his eyes wandering and staring blankly around him.

Diggle knew his next moves would be extremely risky. Normally he wouldn't remove an object stabbed into someone like this, but due to the point of entry and because they were so small, he had no choice but to pull them back out the way they came in; there was no way he was going to be able to push them out the other side, after all, not without causing far more damage to an already critical Oliver. He really wished Felicity or Barry was there to help.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch," Diggle said, putting his hand over Oliver's ribcage. "But I need you to stay here with me, man. Grit through it, yeah?"

Oliver didn't respond, but Diggle knew he would've agreed if he could, so he prepared to start. He gripped the tail of the flechette in between Oliver's ribs. He had no clue which way the blade edges were facing, so if he yanked it out and he was wrong, he would damage Oliver's ribs even further…but he didn't have time to figure it out.

It was like someone was pulling Oliver's intestinal tract out when Diggle removed the flechette. Oliver writhed, arching his back, balling his fists, howling and releasing a raspy breath.

"One more," said Diggle, reaching for the second weapon. He heard Oliver's rapid breathing, worrying him, but he continued. God, he hoped the flechette hadn't punctured the kidney, or he'd be killing his friend right there on the spot.

With a firm tug, Diggle relieved his brother of the intruding item, but as he heaved a sigh of relief, Oliver appeared to flatline. The man's head fell sideways, eyes blank, his body devoid of respiratory movement.

Diggle again laid some slaps to the man's face.

Nothing.

He shook the man.

Nothing.

"Oliver!" he shouted desperately, unwilling to lose the man he'd stood by for all these year now, the man he'd bled for and sacrificed it all numerous times for. "No! No, no!"

Seconds went by. They felt like minutes. Diggle paced, his hands on his head, his heart beating into overtime.

"Oliver..."

There it was again—that female voice! But…who?

"Oliver!"

The voice was loud, ringing in his ears. He gasped for air, sitting up momentarily before falling back down into the bed. He caught his breath, his mind still trying to catch up with his body.

Diggle ran back over to Oliver, overjoyed and unable to hide it.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked weakly.

"You're in the bunker, man," Diggle happily replied. "I told you I wasn't gonna leave you behind."

"Thank you…"

Oliver tried to sit up on his own, but immediately the effects of his recent battle kept him in place. Exhaustion soon overwhelmed him, and he crashed right then and there.

Diggle was concerned for a moment, but soon realized it was time to let Oliver rest. He chuckled softly to himself, backing off.

* * *

By now, Dinah had lost track of how long she'd been Dark Arrow's prisoner. She was sitting upright in an old lawn chair, her wrists and ankles held to the chair by rusted barbed wire that was digging into her skin. Two of her fingernails were barely hanging by the skin on her right hand. The arrow in her arm was now joined by another, both twisted and wrenched for maximum pain and injury. Her shirt was torn open at the back, her skin displaying bloody welts and ridges. Her face looked like something out of a _Rocky_ movie with the right side covered in several bruises and grotesque swelling, and blood—both fresh and dried—stringing down from her lower lip. A stream of dried blood started from the top of her forehead and continued down the side of her face to her collar bone. To top it all off, her headache had only gotten worse.

The metal door creaked and slid open. Dinah peered up to find Dark Arrow standing in front of her, his intimidating mask staring a hole through her.

She scoffed at his presence.

"Have you reconsidered my offer?" he questioned.

"I wouldn't call it much of an offer," she said somewhat jokingly.

He didn't find her humorous, and just stood there.

"The answer is no," she said, deadpan. "You can torture me all you want, but it won't change anything."

"Pity."

He left the room, returning with another man who had his arms and legs tied by steel wire and a cloth bag over his head. He also wore a dampening collar around his neck, so he had to have been a meta-human. The bag was removed, Dinah lurching forward as soon as she saw Vince's brutalized visage.

"You goddamn monster!" she snarled. "Leave him out of this!"

"He's already here," Dark Arrow replied, holding Vince up higher to show off his face more. "As you can see, he isn't so invulnerable with that collar around his neck."

Dinah continued to struggle in her chair, her blood boiling. She wasn't even feeling the sharp barbs digging into her skin at this point. She just wanted to rip that Nazi's head right off his shoulders.

Vince groggily awoke, becoming alarmed as soon as he saw the state Dinah was in.

"Vince," she said sorrowfully.

"Dinah," he said. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry I got you into this." She looked back up to Dark Arrow. "Let him go now! He's got nothing to do with this!"

Vince turned his head to stare up at his assailant. He was mightily confounded by what looked like the Green Arrow in a darker getup, but he was more concerned with surviving and escaping.

"Hey, you," he said, getting Dark Arrow's attention. "You have no idea who you're messing with. My friends _will_ find me, and they will utterly destroy you."

Dark Arrow was undeterred by his words. "I doubt that," he said, returning his gaze to Dinah. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and put it to Vince's temple, despite Dinah's protests. "You have ten seconds to reconsider my offer. After that, I will put this arrow through his brain. Trust me, he will not survive it."

Dinah shook her head. "No! No! Don't you dare!"

"Dinah," Vince said. "Don't give him what he wants. I'm not worth it."

"Yes, you are," she snapped at him.

"Seven seconds," Dark Arrow reminded them.

"Stop!" Dinah barked.

"I never stopped loving you, Dee. I know what I've done is something you could never agree with, but just know, deep down, I was doing it because of you. To protect you."

"Three… two…"

" _Stop!_ " Dinah screamed at the top of her lungs.

"One." Dark Arrow gripped the arrow tighter, bending his elbow to put more power into his thrust.

Dinah bent forward, defeated, her voice hoarse. "Okay! Okay!" She hung her head, weeping. "Okay. You win. I'll do whatever you need. Just stop. Please, don't kill him. Please…"

Dark Arrow replaced his weapon. "You made the smart decision." He opened the door, dragging Vince with him, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

Coming to, Oliver gathered his bearings, recalling the events that led to him being there. He knew he went after his Earth-X doppelganger, they fought, and he lost. If it wasn't for Diggle showing up to rescue him, he likely wouldn't have made it. He dug his elbow into the bed, propping himself up.

Diggle jogged in, signaling for him to stop.

"Oliver, I know you're eager to get back out there," Diggle began, "but you can barely move, let alone fight. You need to stay here and recover."

"I can't do nothing knowing that a monster like him is still out there," Oliver said.

"You're not doing nothing. You nearly died against him."

"That was a fluke. I know I can beat this guy."

"And I don't doubt that, but you gotta play this smarter. You went in there blinded by your anger. That's not you. The Oliver I know is calculated. He's precise. He doesn't let emotion get the better of him."

Oliver exhaled heavily. "You're right. I wasn't thinking clearly. I was thinking about Felicity, Curtis, Dinah, you, and what would happen if he beat me and went after William."

"He's not gonna get that far. I can promise you that."

"I still don't even know how he survived. I hit him dead-on, right in the heart."

"Who knows, man, but it doesn't change the fact that he's here and we need to take him out."

"When we were fighting, he said something peculiar."

"What's that?"

"He mentioned the 'rebirth of the ultimate power.' What if revenge _isn't_ the only thing he's after?"

"If this guy really is just like you—except a Nazi, of course—then I wouldn't put it past him. You don't think he meant the Waverider from Earth-X, do you?"

Oliver pondered the thought in his head. He couldn't deny the possibility, but it sounded like an incredible task for just one man, a man that wasn't even from this Earth at that. Oliver-X would need a massive amount of resources, helping hands, and plenty of time to accomplish something that advanced.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know, but regardless, we need to stop whatever it is he's doing, which means I need to get back out there."

"Like hell I'm going to let you leave this place. Thea is with William and my family at an ARGUS facility. If anybody's going out there, it's gonna be me."

"John, I can't let you do that. You're still not 100%. I can't risk losing you, too."

"I'm all we've got, Oliver. I called STAR Labs looking for Barry, and guess what? He's facing a murder charge as we speak."

Oliver crumpled his face, wondering how in the world the fastest man alive could get charged with murder.

"Yeah, I know," Diggle continued. "I thought about contacting Sara, but I have no idea how." He looked down at his feet. "Felicity always handled that."

"And Kara?"

Diggle held his tongue. He contacted Earth-38 as well, but he was shocked to learn about Supergirl's status.

"What about Kara?" Oliver repeated.

"She got into it with another Kryptonian and…she's in pretty bad condition."

"What? Will she be alright?" There was more concern in his voice than normal, something Diggle caught onto.

"They're still monitoring her. Don't worry. Kara is a strong girl. She'll bounce back. I'm sure of it."

Oliver let out a distressed sigh. He slowly raised his hands, rubbing his face. This was not a good situation to be in. All of his allies were unavailable for one reason or another. If only he knew where Slade was, he'd at least have one reliable and competent ally.

Diggle clasped his hands. "Alright, man. You rest up. I'm gonna try to gather more intel on the situation."

Oliver was lost in his own thoughts by now, probably contemplating his next move. Hopefully it was a smarter move than recklessly rushing the objective this time.

* * *

Lights broke the slumber of Dinah Drake, who had somehow found the ability to catch some kind of rest between her torture sessions. When she had fully awoken, she peered around the room with the eye that wasn't completely swollen. It looked like another empty room, probably in the same building. It wasn't empty, though.

A small silver table stood some feet in front of her.

Dark Arrow came up from behind her, passing her and slamming something down on the table. It was some sort of rock-like object, the size of a basketball.

"What the hell is that?" she asked, taken aback by its glowing, pulsing green core.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, another one in the books. I'm trying to stay consistent with what's happening in the Arrowverse at the moment, which is why Wild Dog hasn't been mentioned at all, but full disclaimer: I haven't kept up with Legends of Tomorrow at all, I only found out about Flash through spoilers, and only got a gist of what's been going on with Supergirl. Things aren't looking good for Oliver Queen, or really any of the heroes it seems. On the other hand, Dark Arrow hasn't lost a step, so stay tuned.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Dinah stared at this mysterious piece of rock before her. The green center was throbbing, as if it was trying to break free from its confines, much like she wished she could do. She couldn't find it in her mind what this was. She'd never seen anything like it before. Perhaps it was something from Earth-X that this doppelganger of Oliver Queen brought with him.

"That…is Kryptonite," Dark Arrow said. He moved behind her, sending a sense of dread through her back.

"Kryptonite," she said. She had heard Oliver mention that before when the Earth-X army was invading. It was linked to Supergirl somehow. At the moment, her mind was too burned out to come up with the connection. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"You are going to get it out of that rock it's trapped in."

"How?"

"Your sonic scream. It has enough power to shred the surrounding rock without harming the Kryptonite inside."

Dinah exhaled. "I'm not in the best place to use my scream right now if you hadn't noticed."

Dark Arrow held out a small black remote. "With this, I can kill your friend Vince in an instant with a charge set in his collar." He gripped her collar, and with a beep, it came off. "If you try anything, you will be responsible for his death. If you screw with me, he will die. Get to it."

Dinah looked ahead at the rock. Of course she considered turning her scream on him, but she couldn't get past the guilt of Vince dying as a result. She had no good option here but to appease this Nazi for now. She took a deep breath, then blew out a scream that barely knocked the table back a few inches.

"Pathetic," Dark Arrow said. "I know you can do better than that."

"I'm trying."

"Try harder, or do I need to give you some incentive?"

Dinah immediately shook her head, not wanting to see Vince tortured even more.

"Good. You have five minutes before I go to an alternative, which means both of you will die."

Dinah's insides burned. She couldn't stand that deep mechanical voice of his that was altered by the mask. Each word he spoke stoked the fire inside her, and she couldn't wait for the opportunity to annihilate him for everything he's done to her and her friends. She took that festering resentment and threw it into another scream, this one blasting the table and the rock several meters ahead, the floor being carved out like a drill had gone through it. Not one second later, she heard the dismal click of the collar back around her neck, her hopes and her head drooping.

Dark Arrow retrieved the green specimen from the floor, inspecting it. He grinned behind his mask.

* * *

Oliver sat up from his bed, swinging his legs over the edge and trying to walk. He hadn't moved on his own for an entire week, needing Diggle's assistance to get to and from the restroom. He was healing, but not fast enough for his liking. He recalled his first showdown with Malcolm Merlyn, back during his Hood days. It took him nearly a month and a half to recover from the brutal beating. He hoped it wouldn't take that long this time.

He stepped on the cold gratings, mustering his strength to walk forward. Each step was painful. Each step was a reminder of his failure. His recklessness. His uncharacteristic behavior. He made it to the center of the lair, climbing up the single step to where the computers were. They had been replaced courtesy of Lyla. She promised to help Oliver find and stop his Earth-X counterpart if she got the opportunity, giving her condolences for the loss of his friends.

Oliver sat down carefully, minding his wrapped ribcage. He woke up one of the monitors. It was still running the facial recognition scan software.

"Looking for your evil twin?"

Oliver was nearly blown over with a mix of anger, sorrow, and befuddlement. He had swiveled his chair to face Laurel's Earth-2 counterpart, more commonly known as Black Siren. She was the exact same in looks, except for hairstyle and piercings. She was in her street clothes, which generally meant she wasn't looking for a big fight, but he wasn't going to trust her after what she pulled several months ago.

"You are not welcome here," he said firmly.

"I need your help," she said.

Oliver stood up, his slow, pained motion not going unnoticed by his adversary.

"That was him, wasn't it?" she asked, a certain softness in her voice.

"Why do you need my help, Laurel?"

"The other Arrow." She looked genuine. "He took Quentin."

* * *

Former detective and captain of the Star City Police Department, Quentin Lance, fell onto the floor with a thud. He was looking into total darkness, and then the bag over his head was pulled off. He was next to an unconscious Dinah.

Scanning the room, his eyes fell upon the imposing sight of Dark Arrow, glaring at him from the doorway.

"Wh-who the hell are you?" he asked the archer.

The archer ignored Lance's question and left the room, slamming the door shut, which woke up Dinah.

"Hey, Dinah!"

"Quentin?" She was mightily confused now, but somehow slightly relieved to see a familiar face.

"Yeah, it's me, but what the hell am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"It's a very complicated story."

"Something tells me we're gonna have plenty of time."

* * *

"Yeah, I know, I love you too. I hope this is all over soon." Diggle entered the bunker a cheerful man. That wouldn't last. He nearly crushed his phone when the doors slid open and he caught a view of someone he couldn't stand.

He grumbled, "This just got a whole lot worse. I'll call you back."

His instincts kicked in. He dropped the phone. The audacity of her to show up here in the bunker after everything that's happened! He was going to put her down for good this time.

"Bitch!" he shouted.

He sprinted for Laurel, trying to close the distance between them to neutralize her sonic scream. He was quick, reaching her in seconds, before she could catch him with her long-range weapon. He hit her with a shoulder tackle that nearly cut her in half, tackling her to the steel gratings, knocking the wind right out of her. He mounted her, using one hand to choke her and the other to land heavy punches.

"Diggle, no!" Oliver screamed from the infirmary. But Diggle wasn't listening.

An enraged John Diggle kept up his assault, viciousness oozing from him. He loved Earth-1 Laurel— _their_ Laurel—but Black Siren was a mockery of the name, a cruel tease. He was sick of her slipping away each time just to continue smudging the good Laurel's legacy.

Not one to take things lying down, Laurel used her flexibility, wrapping her legs around Diggle's head, whipping him over to his side, his hand releasing from her neck. She sat up on her elbows, blasting Diggle with her scream right in his face, launching him off back toward the elevator. She rolled over onto her side, wiping the blood from under her nose. Diggle had gotten to one knee, dizzied. It would be easy to kill him with one well-placed scream. If only that was her goal. She spun to her feet, taking off, colliding with Diggle, who had sheepishly gotten back to his. The two engaged in close quarters combat, her agility acting as a perfect foil to his impressive strength.

Their skill almost evenly matched, it didn't look like either of them was going to take home the win any time soon. But they kept on fighting.

The lights went out.

They came back on, and Oliver limped closer to the two parties. "Guys, enough!" he said. "John, back off! Laurel!"

"He started it," she said snidely.

"Oliver, what the hell is she doing here?" Diggle demanded to know.

"Just calm down," said Oliver.

"Calm down? Calm down?! We should be delivering her body to the morgue by now."

Laurel smirked.

"It seems my Earth-X doppelganger took Lance."

Diggle backed down, curious. "Why? Lance wasn't even there for that."

"Why else? To get an advantage over me," said Oliver.

"Whatever it is, we're running out of time," said Laurel.

Diggle scoffed. "Why not get your little discount Legion of Doom to help you?"

She gave him an icy glare. "They won't."

"Shocker. Look, we don't need your help. Oliver and I can handle this without you."

"I already agreed we would work together," Oliver said, taking on Diggle's intense glare. "Just until we get our friends back."

"Whatever," said Diggle. He walked off toward the computers.

Laurel turned, standing beside Oliver. "That went well," she said.

"Don't misunderstand," Oliver said sharply. "We aren't friends here. What you did with Prometheus, and what you've continued to do since then, has not been forgotten."

"Ollie—"

"Save it. Let's get to work."

* * *

Lance groaned, sitting up against the concrete wall. Dinah had explained the Earth-X horror story to him. Three years ago he would have balked and considered her insane, but now he believed every word of it. He saw the aftermath on the news, too. It was all still a lot to consider in his life.

"I thought seeing an evil version of my dead daughter was bad enough," he said. "Now we have Nazi Oliver Queen. Just another Tuesday in Star City, right?"

"I don't even know how long I've been here," replied Dinah. "A week, at least. Maybe two."

"From what you've told me about this evil Oliver, he usually shoots first and doesn't ask questions. So why is he keeping us alive?"

"He needs us for something. Don't ask me what because I have no clue. All I know is it's not good."

"Great. Well, hopefully our green-hooded friend doesn't take his sweet time finding us."

"He'll find us."

* * *

"Found them!" Oliver declared. "Well, sort of. Facial recognition puts Lance somewhere near the Glades. It's mostly abandoned buildings, leftovers from the Undertaking."

"I'll head down there, see if I can pinpoint his location," said Diggle.

"I'm going with you," said Laurel. The tension level shot up. Oliver eyed Diggle, who eyed him back, then they both eyed her.

"How do I know you won't stab me in the back as soon as we find Lance?" Diggle asked.

"You don't. But we both know you don't stand a chance against Oliver-X by yourself."

Oliver looked to Diggle. "She's right," he said. "He's just as good as me, except he won't hesitate to kill you at any opportunity. Maybe she can even out the playing field."

Diggle sighed, defeated. It was two against one. He looked to Laurel, his eyes narrowing, studying her.

* * *

Team Arrow's black jump-out van careened down the streets, taking all the back roads to avoid traffic lights and cameras just in case Oliver-X had any kind of advanced warning system set up in his makeshift base of operations.

To try and cut into the awkward tension, Laurel turned the radio on. It was an oldies station, much to their disappointment.

Diggle quickly turned the radio off. "Don't touch," he said like a mother scolding her child. "Don't touch anything."

"Yes, sir," she replied sardonically, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

* * *

"You should be arriving at Lance's last known location now," Oliver relayed from their ear pieces. Given the situation, he reluctantly took up the technical position for now. Unlike what some have been led to believe about him over the years, he wasn't all that bad with technology. Of course, he was nowhere near the same level of hacking as Curtis and Felicity had been, but he could certainly find his way around the typical system, as he had before he got Felicity involved in his crusade.

"Copy that," said Diggle, surveying the area around them. It was a lot of empty, boarded up, half-torn down buildings that hadn't been touched since the Undertaking. It was as good as any place to hide bodies. Nobody cared about this section of this city.

Diggle and Laurel continued to drive steadily through the streets, picking out places that would be more ideal for Oliver-X's mission.

"Stop," said Laurel.

Diggle eased on the brakes. "Why are we stopping?" he wondered.

"There," she said, gesturing to a building further down the block.

Diggle stared at it. It didn't look anything out of the ordinary. It was a multiple-story brick building, although part of it was collapsed from the earthquake. There was a fallen wooden sign at the foot of the front doors, cracked into several pieces.

"Park the van here," Laurel said, already getting out. "We should walk the rest of the way."

Diggle sighed annoyingly. "Yeah, park the van here. I'm sure it won't be a problem if we have to come running outta there." But he obliged, pulling the van into an alley next to them.

Diggle found Laurel already at the front of the building. She was holding up part of the sign, an embossed flame. He instantly recalled why this particular building was significant.

"CNRI," he whispered. "Of course." He caught Laurel staring at the piece as if she was in a trance. "Hey."

Laurel broke out of her nostalgia trip. She dropped the sign piece and began to crawl through the debris. Diggle followed.

The inside of the building was in complete disrepair, absolutely destroyed by the earthquake. Support beams were lying across each other on the floor, bricks and plaster in haphazard piles elsewhere. Casework was scattered all over.

Diggle watched Laurel as she went through. He couldn't really read her, but he could tell she wasn't enjoying this trip through memory lane.

"I take it Merlyn's earthquake device went off on Earth-2 just like here," he said.

Laurel was silent for a moment, not moving anymore. She looked around, then continued. "Yes," she said. "Only I was in Central City when it happened."

Diggle nodded in acknowledgement. It seemed strange that she would be so attentive to this place if she hadn't taken part in it on her Earth. For that matter, if she wasn't in Star City during the Undertaking, Tommy would have had no reason to be in the Glades, so he wouldn't have died. Was he still alive on Earth-2?

Diggle's pondering was interrupted by Laurel flipping a file cabinet away from the floor. It revealed a door that was wrapped by a chain. Suspiciously, the chain wasn't locked, so Diggle tugged it away, and Laurel propped open the door. It led to a set of stairs.

"I never knew this place had a basement," Diggle said.

"It was only for safekeeping the files," Laurel replied.

Oliver finally spoke again from the comms. "The basement isn't very big, but the city blueprints show that there is an adjacent storage area. My guess is that Oliver-X is using both—if this is where he's truly operating from. Last time was a fake-out and it nearly got me killed."

"If he's operating out of here, we should be careful," said Diggle. "No doubt he's gonna be prepared for trespassers."

"Unless he's expecting you," Oliver said ominously.

"Whatever happens, I'm getting Quentin out," Laurel said. She picked up a piece of plywood and dropped it down the stairs. As soon as it hit the floor, two opposing arrows ripped through it.

"That's not too bad," Diggle said.

"I'm just worried about what's after that," Oliver said.

* * *

The door creaked open. Dark Arrow stepped into the room, going right over to Lance and bending down so that they were face-to-face.

"I got something on my face?" Lance asked deadpan.

"On my Earth, you are my second in command," said Dark Arrow. "You are loyal, persistent, and powerful."

"I wish I could take that as a compliment."

"It is unfortunate what you have become here."

"What? Because I care about the people around me? Because I fight for the ones I love?"

Dark Arrow stood up, moving back to the door.

Lance wasn't finished, though. He continued, "Hey, weren't you married? Didn't you love your wife? How is that any different? Huh? First thing you wanna see in the morning when you wake up is your wife. When you come home from work, she's the only person that you wanna deal with. She's your rock. The one that keeps you in line. The one that keeps you going even when you doubt yourself. And you tell me I'm weak for thinking the same way for my friends and family? How's that different? Come on, tell me."

It seemed like Dark Arrow was actually considering Lance's words, standing in the doorway for several seconds.

"Your time will come," Dark Arrow said portentously. He left the room.

* * *

Just feet from the room he was keeping Dinah and Lance in, Dark Arrow stood. He balled up one of his fists, squeezing it tightly. He slammed it forward into the concrete wall.

"I _will_ have you back," he muttered.

* * *

"Okay, guys, it looks like that storage area is just up ahead," said Oliver, guiding his averse teammates. They'd made it through the CNRI basement without any other obstacles, casting suspicion. Granted, Oliver-X didn't have as many resources on this Earth, but he still should have put up more defenses.

Diggle and Laurel came to a dead-end.

"If there's a room on the other side, I could—" Laurel began.

"No, it's too risky," said Oliver. "And it would definitely alert him to our presence. We want to get Dinah and Quentin without encountering him if possible."

Diggle came up beside the double-stacked filing cabinet, planting his feet and pushing it off the wall. Sure enough, behind it was another door, this one reinforced.

"Let's go," said Laurel, leading the way. Naturally, the door wasn't locked.

* * *

Dinah was losing strength. Without food and with very little water supplied to her, she was incredibly weak. The torture she endured throughout her stay was just the cherry on top. She was trying to keep it together for Lance, but even he started to notice her losing consciousness every few hours.

"Any time now, I'm sure," he told her, talking about Oliver finding them. He clasped his hands, twiddling his thumbs, getting more anxious each time Dinah passed out. "Come on, buddy, running out of time here," he said softly to himself.

Dinah's head fell to her shoulder, her eyes involuntarily closing. Her skin had lost some color. She slumped.

"Dinah!" Lance yelled. "Hey!"

Just then, the door flew open, and a woman sprung inside. Lance didn't know whether to be relieved or feel even more doomed. It was Laurel, but she didn't appear threatening this time. She scanned the room quickly, seeing the unconscious Dinah, and then Lance in the corner. She rushed over to him.

"Quentin!" she said thankfully. She looked at his bonds, fussing with them futilely. "Damn it. I can't get these off here."

"I don't understand what's going on," Lance said.

"We're getting you out of here," she said.

"We?"

And as if on cue, Diggle ran into the room. He went for Dinah, trying to wake her up. She responded to his physical prompting, but just barely.

"I knew you'd find us," she said with a tiny smile.

Diggle returned the smile, happy to see his teammate alive. "Let's get the hell outta here."

He picked her up, having to cradle her due to the way she was bound. Laurel and Quentin met them by the door, and all of them entered the hallway.

* * *

The group traveled together along the route back out to CNRI. They made it to the door, but it was locked from the other side.

"Shit!" Diggle shouted. He saw Dinah losing it again, so he shook her by the shoulders to wake her up again. "Stay with me, Dinah. We didn't get this far for nothing."

"Ollie, we could use some help here," Laurel said. "Is there another way out?"

"I'm searching," Oliver said, honed in on his navigation. Seconds later, he commented, "Okay, go back down the hallway you just came out of."

The foursome followed directions, going back toward the room they'd found Dinah and Quentin. When they reached the end of that hallway, they took a left, then a right, and ended up in a bigger room with multiple doors. On one side of the room was a device the size of a standard bathtub. It was reminiscent of the earthquake machine.

"Which door?" Diggle asked to Oliver.

"Give me a second," Oliver replied.

"We've got company," Lance said in a deflated tone.

An arrow whizzed by, seemingly inflicting no damage to anyone. Diggle then noticed his gun was pinned to the wall. The group directed their attention to the side of the room with the odd machine. Dark Arrow stood in front of it, his bow in hand.

"I was expecting you, John," Dark Arrow said. "And Miss Lance… Or should I call you Black Siren?"

"You can go to Hell," Laurel hissed.

"I would rather send you all there."

"Not gonna happen," said Diggle. He spoke to the others, "You guys get outta here. I'll keep him occupied."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," Laurel said. She turned to Lance, holding up his arms. She let out a narrow sonic scream, instantly breaking the restraints while leaving his hands unharmed. She handed her communication set to him. "Oliver will help you find your way out."

Lance gave her an inquisitive look, but soon resigned and took Dinah from Diggle's arms. "Thank you," he told Laurel as he began to move away.

Diggle and Laurel walked side by side, approaching Dark Arrow.

"If you get a chance, don't hesitate to take this guy out," Diggle told her.

"Just don't get in my way," she said. "I really don't want to have to explain to Oliver how I splattered his best friend after all this."

"You may be formidable fighters in your own right," Dark Arrow said to interrupt their chat. "However, your lives will end here."

Dark Arrow lifted his bow and in a flash, had fired an arrow at Diggle. Laurel blasted the arrow to small particles with her scream. She and Diggle charged at him. He fired another arrow, but it was shredded like that last. Then another. And another. Soon he was too close to them to use his arrows, so he fell back to his combat prowess. Laurel and Diggle came at him together. He ducked away from their punches, kneeing Diggle and dodging a scream from Laurel that would've taken his head off.

* * *

Quentin jogged as quickly as he could with the weight of Dinah in his arms. He huffed, already losing his breath, wishing he was twenty years younger again. Dinah began to stir, then fully woke up, confused as to what was happening. Quentin stopped, setting her upright.

"We gotta get the hell outta here," he told her. "Diggle and Laurel are fighting that other Oliver, trying to buy us some time."

"Dammit," she said. "Take this stupid collar off me, please."

Quentin unhinged the lock, and the collar fell to the ground. Dinah extended her arms and feet so that they were close together, took in a deep breath, then launched a sonic scream at herself. She broke the wiring and ties that had held her for so long, finally feeling some hint of freedom. It gave her enough adrenaline to stand on her own.

"I have to go back," she said.

"Are you nuts? They just got you out, and now you're going back?!"

"Vince is still back there."

"Who?"

"My ex-partner. I'm not leaving without him."

She ran off. Quentin sighed and contemplated what to do next.

* * *

Diggle fell and rolled away, having been kicked off his feet. Laurel screamed, but Dark Arrow spun out of its radius and back-handed Laurel. While she was staggered, he tripped her, jumping, flipping, and landing with his knee in her gut. She wheezed, trying to get her breath back. Diggle returned to action, bombarding his enemy with a flurry of punches. Dark Arrow blocked them with his forearms, then headbutted Diggle back. He returned his attention to Laurel, who was still getting back up. He dropkicked her straight back down.

* * *

Dinah had miraculously found Vince's holding cell. He was out cold, but she managed to wake him. He wasn't in as bad of shape as her, but he had been brutally beaten and had several small puncture wounds around his chest. She removed his dampening collar.

"Why'd you come back for me?" he asked weakly.

"I couldn't leave you behind," she said, helping him to his feet.

He removed himself from her, cracking his knuckles and his neck. He was already regenerating the damage Dark Arrow had inflicted on him.

She smiled.

* * *

Dark Arrow landed a sequence of kicks to Diggle's knees, knocking the power out from under him. He decentralized him, flipping him onto his back. He was about to gravely wound him with an arrow when a sonic scream hit him. It wasn't enough to knock him away or kill him, but it was painful to the ears, forcing him to back up away from Diggle.

Laurel had gotten back up, rushing over to her reluctant partner. She picked him up.

"I hate to say it, but thank you," he grumbled.

"You're very welcome," she said, taking pleasure in his admittance.

Dark Arrow recovered and attacked them again. Even with the both of them, they were slowly losing steam. He really was Oliver's equal, fighting almost exactly like him, but with a slant towards aggression. Every time they managed to counter one of his moves, he had another lined up in waiting, ready to counter their counter. It was an uphill battle, to say the least. At one point, Laurel had attempted to outright obliterate him with one of her screams, but it instead hit the machine behind him; he wasn't upset about it, though, for some reason.

"Your fighting is futile," Dark Arrow said, harshly elbowing Diggle in the jaw. Diggle stumbled back. "It's almost disappointing." He spun Laurel around to deflect another of her screams, then hit her with a German suplex. She was slow to move after that.

He was about to move in on Diggle when he was hit by a concussive sonic blast that sent him flying into the machine at the end of the room.

"You guys alright?" Dinah asked as she ran over to them.

"Not really," said Diggle, sitting up, rubbing his already swollen lower jaw. He noticed Vigilante behind Dinah, but figured it wasn't worth questioning right now. "We gotta go."

Dinah nodded, and looked to Laurel. "What do you say?"

Laurel furrowed her brow, an angered yet devious grin forming on her face. "Fuck yes."

Dark Arrow got up, having been blown behind the machine. He shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness, then saw what was about to happen.

Laurel and Dinah were positioned for a joint attack—a joint sonic scream! He was out of options here, cornered. The two meta-humans let loose, delivering a sonic blast that swirled and swiveled together like a horizontal tornado. The torrent drilled through the air at a blazing speed, knocking right into the machine. The violent flow caused a large electrical surge, and the wall behind the machine crumbled, producing a cloud of dust.

"Let's move!" Diggle ordered.

* * *

The group ended up outside of the building next door to CNRI. The black van pulled up to them, Lance in the driver seat. They all piled inside, hoping it was the end of this madness.

* * *

Unfortunately, it wasn't the end. Rubble was cast aside, and Dark Arrow crawled out, pulling himself to the machine. It was sparking, but his reaction wasn't one of disappointment. He found the control panel, entering a command to bring up a small gauge. It now read 100%, flashing intermittently.

* * *

 **A/N: Whew. My apologies for the wait. I had a bit of writer's block, but I'm trying to get this moving at a steady pace again. Enjoy. Who knows what's coming next in this sinister plan of Dark Arrow.**


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